This Lich is a Better Landlord Chapter 117

Shar's contract seemed incredibly harsh to others.

Bringing a Legendary rank believer to Shar or causing three Paladins of Light to break their oaths and fall within ten years.

Legends were rare to begin with, and most had their own faiths. Getting them to convert to a fallen god—one that was despised across the continent—was extraordinarily difficult.

Furthermore, gods looked upon Legendary believers with special favor. Converting such a person could trigger a religious war at any moment.

Corrupting Paladins was the same. The Ryan Empire had many Paladins, but one could not become a Paladin without being a most devout believer.

For such people, killing them was possible, but making a Paladin break their oath and fall was incredibly hard. The Paladins Ambrose had captured before were all ready to die rather than yield, their wills incredibly firm.

For anyone else, let alone ten years, even a hundred years might not be enough to succeed.

But Ambrose was different.

His Legendary ability allowed him to weave futures for others. It only took one bad day to drive the kindest and most upright person mad.

With a painful future, changing a person's mind was all too simple.

Ten years was more than enough.

If push came to shove, he could manipulate events so the elves produced a Legend who would sacrifice themselves for their race—that should be noble enough for them.

Shar was decisive. After Ambrose signed the contract, she left behind a deep, dark shadow.

It was a mass of writhing darkness. Looking into it felt as if one's soul was being sucked in.

Ambrose threw a few Dice of Fate first to confirm that the thing wasn't a curse left by Shar, then reached out to touch the deep darkness.

Like a living black substance, it attached itself to his hand. Billions of runes lit up, scrambling to drill into Ambrose's bones. Ambrose felt as if his soul was being invaded; the surging knowledge forced its way in, giving him a long-forgotten headache.

After a long while, the black shadow detached from his arm, returning to its slowly writhing state.

Ambrose opened his mouth and exhaled a puff of smoke.

This was ash burned from his soul fire flaring up high. For a moment just then, he nearly had his soul fire blown out.

Ambrose sighed with emotion. "The Weave... is it this complex? It's even more ridiculous than the *Wish* spell."

He had thought the plan involving the *Wish* spell in the City of Alchemy was ingenious, with enough magical and alchemical knowledge to fill a library. But compared to the Weave, it was insignificant.

Ambrose had only roughly browsed the principles of the Weave just now. Before he could see more details, his soul had voluntarily withdrawn from the connection because it couldn't process such a massive amount of information.

No wonder Shar left this shadow behind. She knew that if the Weave were written into text, the contents might fill an entire kingdom.

Ambrose rubbed his skull, realizing he had underestimated the Weave.

"No wonder that idiot who tried to seize control of the Weave got blown up instantly. Unless you are a deity of the highest rank, you can't control the Weave at all. Just the influx of information is enough to blast a mortal into nothingness, not even leaving bone ash behind."

Mortal folly always stemmed from arrogance and pride, ended in tragedy, and finally became a joke passed down through the ages.

Ambrose warned himself not to be like that greedy mortal. Regarding the Weave, he only needed to find the part that could calm chaotic and disordered mana.

After resting for a good while, Ambrose reached out to the black shadow again, once more immersing himself in the infinite ocean of knowledge.

And so it went: immerse for a while, withdraw to write hundreds of pages of notes, enter the shadow to consult content, withdraw to write hundreds more pages. Ambrose was completely absorbed in his research.

But the elves were not so calm.

The failure of the Wheel of Fate ritual had raised the elves' wariness of Ambrose, the Lich, to the maximum. They only now realized that Ambrose possessed power in the field of divination that surpassed the entire elven race.

Before, they thought this Lich was a bit troublesome, but only troublesome—a mere Legendary Lich compared to the elven race was like an ant to an elephant.

But if the opponent mastered prophecy, that was a different story.

The power of fate was something even the gods feared.

If it was fated that you would fall, you could not avoid this destiny even if you possessed the greatest divine power. The only one who could stand above fate was the Creator God, Ao; all other living beings were actually struggling within the web woven by fate.

The power Ambrose displayed was already approaching the divine.

A master of prophecy meant that most schemes and plots were meaningless against him. The only way to deal with such an opponent was an open scheme—a direct confrontation.

The elven race's power was far greater than a Legendary Lich, and stronger than the Desert Dwarves fighting on two fronts. This was the elves' greatest trump card. Previously, the elves had been conservative in war because life was too precious. Now, with over half the population infected by Magic Addiction, they were all destined to be consumed on the battlefield. Without sparing lives, the combat power the elves could unleash would make even the Ryan Empire choose to avoid their edge.

This was their greatest card. As long as the elves crushed forward openly, victory in war was certain.

The Old King earnestly advised Catherine, "Your Majesty, during the negotiation process, we must firmly demonstrate this attitude. We will win this war, regardless of who the opponent is. The result will be the same. Only by standing on this point can the negotiation possibly be favorable to us."

Catherine nodded. She understood the elves' advantage, but she said worriedly, "But we cannot ignore this Lich's opinion. Our goal for this negotiation is to bring Cicero and the others back."

The Old King was very concerned hearing Catherine's words. This was the key to Catherine's endurance, but it would also become the opponent's greatest leverage. If their weakness was seized, they would be at a disadvantage in the negotiation. Luckily, the Lich hadn't discovered the elves' greatest secret, otherwise, this negotiation would be impossible to continue.

Catherine seemed to realize her stance was problematic, so she said to the Old King, "We still know too little about that Lich. We need more intelligence."

The Old King nodded. "I know. That's why I found a human. He was once a member of the Alchemists' Council and has dealt with that Lich many times. Perhaps we can extract some information from him."

Catherine's eyes lit up, and she quickly said, "Please invite him in immediately."

Before long, the stern-faced Gustavo Flynn appeared in the Elven Queen's palace.

Compared to before, this Legendary Alchemist looked healthier. Although he was still unsmiling and serious, his eyes were clearer, lacking much of the previous pressure.

Although the ultimate goal of the City of Alchemy had failed, Gustavo Flynn had also let go of a heavy burden. For a Legendary Alchemist, as long as he didn't pressure himself, life could be quite comfortable.

After the destruction of the City of Alchemy, he had traveled to Silvermoon High Court. In this world, only Silvermoon High Court could satisfy his needs for alchemy research. He just hadn't expected to encounter various accidents upon entering, ending up completely trapped within the High Court.

Being able to meet the Elven Queen this time, Gustavo Flynn hoped to use this opportunity to regain his freedom.

However, upon seeing Catherine, even an elder like Gustavo Flynn was lost in a daze for a long time.

The beauty of the Elven Queen was supreme even among elves, let alone to a human. She seemed to possess a natural charm aura; those with weaker wills would kneel directly to pledge loyalty to the Queen, becoming followers until death.

Catherine was used to this and waited patiently for Gustavo Flynn to regain his senses.

It took a full ten-plus seconds for Gustavo Flynn to recover. he quickly lowered his head, daring not to look at the Elven Queen again.

"Apologies, Your Majesty. I was rude."

"Pay it no mind, Master Flynn." Catherine dismissed the detail and anxiously got to the point: "I heard you have had interactions with that Lich. I want to ask you for intelligence regarding him. If you are willing to help, the elven race will remember this favor."

Gustavo Flynn replied, "I'm actually not that familiar with that Lich. I only had a few academic debates with him. His attainment in alchemy is very high. Our President invited him to join the Alchemists' Council many times, but he always refused..."

Gustavo Flynn embellished many details of his acquaintance with Ambrose, not deliberately disparaging him, but even subtly praising him as a genius among geniuses.

After all, he was Ambrose's defeated opponent, having lost thoroughly from head to toe. Only if the opponent was strong would he, the loser, not look so bad.

It wasn't that he, Gustavo Flynn, was incompetent; it was that he had met a true genius rarely seen in a millennium. His loss was not unjust.

Catherine didn't know this; she only knew that Gustavo Flynn had been forced to leave his home because of this Lich. Although she didn't know the details, it was clear Gustavo Flynn had a great grudge against this Lich.

To speak of an enemy without sparing praise—this Lich was even more formidable than imagined.

As they chatted, Catherine asked again, "Then, to your knowledge, does this Lich have any obvious weaknesses? His hobbies, or perhaps his obsession?"

Liches all had their own obsessions; this was common knowledge. When an obsession was involved, a Lich's rationality would plummet, or they might lose it completely. This was what Catherine wanted to know most. Mastering this intelligence would grant an advantage in the negotiation.

Gustavo Flynn said without hesitation, "Gold coins! Without a doubt, his obsession is wealth! He has a fanatical pursuit of money and riches. If you give him enough gold coins, you could even make him offer up his own Phylactery."

Catherine said in surprise, "It's that simple?"

Just money? The elves had plenty of that. If they could save their people just by paying a ransom, that would be too simple.